Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 230484/1996 discloses an example of a convertible top vehicle that is designed to store the roof portion and the rear window portion of the vehicle in the rear portion of the vehicle. The construction of this convertible top vehicle is generally shown in FIG. 9 which illustrates a vehicle 100 provided with a roof structure portion 104 having a roof portion 101 and a rear window portion 102. The roof structure portion 104 is brought into contact with and supported by a portion of a front face glass frame via a forced type control apparatus 106 that is fixedly supported by a vehicle body. The roof structure portion 104 is adapted to be pivoted toward the rear portion 110 of the vehicle 100 from a closed position covering a rear seat area 108 to an open position in which the rear seat area is uncovered. The roof structure portion 104 is also adapted to be stored in a roof storage box 116 located in the region of the rear portion of the vehicle and covered by a lid 114 that is supported via a first pivot shaft 112. The lid 114 is hinge-coupled to an auxiliary frame 118 by the first pivot shaft 112, and the auxiliary frame 118 is supported by the vehicle body side in a lower portion of the vehicle 122 via a second pivot shaft 130.
As shown by FIG. 10, the lid 114 can be moved to a rear side opened position in which the rear side is freely opened when the lid 114 is moved in a manner centered on the first pivot shaft 112. In addition, as shown in FIG. 9, the lid 114 can be pivoted to a front side opened position in which the front side is freely opened when the lid 114 is pivoted in a manner centered on the second pivot shaft 130.
In this type of opening and closing device, as shown in FIG. 11, the auxiliary frame 118 is formed by a U-shaped support piece 126 that includes a pair of support legs 120 and a base leg 132. The base leg 132 extends orthogonally to the vehicle longitudinal axis line 128 and forms the second pivot shaft 130 of the auxiliary frame 118 that is supported by the vehicle side via at least one hinge joint 134. The trunk lid 114 is coupled to the auxiliary frame 118 by way of the guide rods 123 at the first pivot shaft 112, and hydraulic cylinders 140 and gas charge springs 142 are coupled to the vehicle body via common supports 144. This opening and closing device thus requires a relatively large number of parts and is relatively heavy, and the cost associated with fabricating the device is increased.
In light of the foregoing, a need exists for a trunk lid opening and closing device that is not susceptible to the same disadvantages and drawbacks as other known devices.